Lookingglass Summer Camp Teaching Artists

fullTime

Theater
,

submitted by
Kylie Stover

posted on
02.05.2026

contact
[email protected]
Lookingglass Summer Camp Teaching Artists

Position Summary

Lookingglass’ Department of Education and Engagement is seeking talented and experienced teachers and artists with a passion for working with young people and/or community groups and organizations. We are hiring 4 teaching artists who are available to teach summer camps (August 3-7 and 10–14). Summer teaching artists should have expertise in either devising with young people, spectacle-rich storytelling, magic, or audition and ensemble practices for teens. We are also assembling a multi-disciplinary pool of teaching artists as we revitalize our education and community programming.

Lookingglass Teaching Artists collaborate with students and teachers in CPS classrooms across Chicago, lead artistic workshops, and partner with arts and non-arts organizations to use theater to identify and address community needs, challenges, and goals.

As part of the Education and Engagement team, Lookingglass Teaching Artists report to the Director of Education and Engagement and collaborate with Lookingglass staff and school or organization personnel to design and implement programs that align with Lookingglass’ artistic season and our core values: collaboration, transformation, and invention. Teaching assignments are decided by staff on a case-by-case basis in consultation with the teaching artist based on their interests and expertise and informed by the needs of the project.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

• Create lesson plans based on established teaching standards and educational best practices,
• Develop and implement classroom management strategies
• Maintain necessary communication with both internal and external stakeholders.
• Work with students in a way that considers the physical and mental well-being of each child, while being prepared and flexible to design and implement an experience of learning and discovery based in supportive, creative, empowering, anti-racist and inclusive practices.

Successful teaching artists will:

• Collaborate with Lookingglass Director of Education and Engagement, classroom teachers, school administration, and organizational partners to build a curriculum and implement lesson plans that align with the artistic season at Lookingglass.
• Regularly communicate needs and issues with Department of Education and Engagement staff
• Appropriately follow protocols for recording hours worked
• Attend Lookingglass Teaching Artist trainings and professional development workshops, as applicable
• Demonstrate commitment to helping others explore their creativity with an interest in expanding their own creative practice as well as igniting that spark with others
• Participate in organization-wide anti-racism work and incorporate an anti-racist lens into daily practice. This work, by the Board, Ensemble, and staff.

Qualifications:

Education and Engagement programs goals include representing the Lookingglass aesthetic. Ideal candidates will have had experience with one or more of the following:

• Building creative ensembles
• Physical theatre and/or movement-based art
• Dance
• Music
• Devising
• Creative play
• Adapting and interpreting scripted material
• Theatre for Young / Theatre for Very Young Audiences.
• Applied theatre, including interest in applying theatre to non-arts settings like nursing homes, hospitals, or places of business

Other Qualifications:

• 3 years’ experience teaching arts related programs
• Multilingual candidates encouraged

Schedule:

August 3 – 7, 8:30am – 3:15pm: Fairly Scary Tales: Build Your Own Story

August 10 – 14, 8:30am – 3:15pm: As if by Magic! Where the Impossible is Possible

August 10 – 14, 11:30am – 4:15pm: Lookingglass Young Ensemble: Ace the Audition

Compensation:

Teaching hours: $52/hour. Prep hours: $22/hour

Lookingglass Theatre Company:
As one of the country’s largest ensemble theatres dedicated to the creation of new work, Lookingglass Theatre Company seeks to redefine the theatrical experience and to make theatre more exhilarating, inspirational, and accessible to all. Now in its 38th year, the Company is a respected source for story-centered theatrical work that is evocative, physical, and visually rich, and operates from its home in the historic Water Tower Water Works on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue.
Recipient of the 2011 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre Company has built a national reputation for artistic excellence and innovation onstage, as well as sharing its ensemble-based techniques with Chicago-area students, teachers, community organizations, and corporations through the Company’s Department of Curiosity. Guided by the Company’s mission to "change, charge, and empower,” Lookingglass’ Curiosity Department cultivates creativity, expands access, and transforms classrooms and communities across the city we call home.

To Apply:
Please write to Molly Bunder, Director of Education and Engagement at [email protected]: and include:
A resume outlining your teaching and artistic experience and any special skills.

A cover letter that answers these questions:
What is your availability for summer camp?
Why are you interested in working with Lookingglass?
What has been your favorite experience teaching? What made it unique?

Contact Info:
Molly Bunder, Director of Education and Engagement
[email protected]

Job Type: Freelance/Contract/Temp

Compensation: $52/hr for teaching hours. $22/hr for planning hours.

Location: Chicago